Clutch mechanism for corn-planters and like machines



S. K. DENNIS. CLUTCH MECHANISM FOR CORN PLANTERS AND LIKE MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-4. IQIT- RENEWED OCT. 22. I919.

Patented Jan. 6, 1920.

2 SHEETS-:SHEET l'.

s, K DE'NNISi CLUTCH MECHANISM FOR CORN PLANTERS AND LIKE MACHINES;

APPLICATION FILED AUG.4. I917- RENEWED GCT. 22, 1919.

1,327,090, I Patented Jan. 6,1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

7 Invenfm" Samuel K067277151 ra n sra'rns PATENT onmon.

SAMUEL K. DENNIS, or onrcaeo, iLLInoIs, nssienon, BY vrnsnn ASSIGNMENTS,To mrnnnarronar. rmnvnsrnn cor/man A oonrona'rron or new JERSEY.

CLUTCH MECHANISM FOR CORN-PLANTER-S AND LIKE RHZCZ'IINES.

Patented Jan. 6, 1920.

Original application filed September 1913, Serial No. 789,837. Dividedand this application filed August 4, 1917, Serial No. 184,516.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL K. DENNIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Clutch Mechanism forCorn-Planters and like Machines, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact specification.

lly invention relates to clutch mechanism for corn planters and likemachines, this application being a division of application Serial No.789,837, filed September 15, 1913.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved and simplifiedconstruction for clutch mechanism and tripping mechanism therefor, andmore specifically to provide a construction which is easily operated, iscompact, and may be shipped without dauger of breakage.

One form of my clutch mechanismis illus trated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein similar reference characters inclicate like partsthroughout the several views, and in these drawings- Figure l is a sideelevation, partly in section, of a corn planter provided with myimproved clutch mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the clutch mechanism taken on anenlarged scale;

Fig. 3 is a to plan view of the mechanism taken on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view showing the details of the clutchmechanism and a modified construction of the tripping mechanism;

Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged side elevational and front elevational viewsof the clutch tripping lever; and

Figs. 7 and 8 are detail views illustrating, respectively, the clutchmechanism and the mounting for the clutch controlling cam.

In Fig. 1 I have illustrated a corn planter provided with my improvedclutch mecha nism, and this planter will be descrlbed briefly. Itshould, however, be understood that the clutch mechanism is not limitedto use with a corn planter, this machine having been illustrated merelyto show one practical embodiment of the invention. The planterillustrated comprises carrying wheels Renewed ectober 22, 1919.

Serial No. 332,5l6.

10, an axle 11, a main or supporting frame 12- carried on said axle, arunner or furrow opener frame 13 hinged to said supporting frame, furrowopeners 14, a draft tongue 15 connected to both of said frames, and aframe adjusting lever 16 carried on a transverse shaft 17 fixed to thesupporting frame. The frame adjusting lever is preferably in the form ofa bell crank lever and comprises an upwardly extending hand portion 18,a rearwardly extending foot portion 19, and a forwardly extending lug20. For raising the runner frame a yielding connection is providedbetween the forwardly extending lug 20 and the runner frame comprising arod 21 carrying a compression spring 22 and pivoted at one end of theforwardly extending lug 20 and having its other end slidably received ina brace bar 23 fixed to the runner frame and to the tongue.

To assist the operator in moving the levers to raise the frame I providea counterbalancing spring 2% adj ustabl'y connected at its forward endto the brace bar 23 and its rear end to a pivoted arm 25 carried on thebrace bar, said arm 25 being in turn connected at its lower endto thefoot portion of the lever 16 by means of a double link 26.

The seed shaft 27, operatively connected to seed plates in the seedboxes 28, is carried on the runner frame. For operating the seed shaftthere is provided a clutch mechanism 29 operated by a continuouslyrotating sprocket wheel 30, which clutch mechanism imparts anintermittent variable movement to the seed shaft. The sprocket wheel 30is driven in the usual manner by means of a chain 31 connected to asprocket wheel 32 carried by the main axle of the planter.

The clutch mechanism 29 comprises an internal toothed ratchet wheel 33operated continuously by the sprocket wheel 30, and a pivoted pawlmember 34c normally actuated by spring 34 and carrying a roller 35designed to coact with the internal teeth on the ratchet wheel andimpart a variable movement to said pawl. The pawl 34 and roller 35 arepivoted on a castin 35 rotatably mounted on the seed shaft 2 The casting35 has a recessed portion 35 and is integrally connected with alaterally extending lug 36, which in turn is provided with spacedflanges 37 and pivotally mounted between these flanges is a pawl 38. Thepawl 38 is normally actuated by a spring 38 and intermittently coactswith a ratchet or toothed disk 39 which is fixed to the seed shaft, andwhenever the pawl 38 contacts with one of the notches in the ratchet 39,the seed shaft is rotated. The intermittent movement of the clutch issecured through the operation of the usual check row mechanism which, asis well-known, imparts a reciprocable movement to the check row shaft 40carrying a knockout arm 41, which arm is held normally in position toengage the pivoted pawl 34 and move it inwardly until the arm 41 engagesthe recessed portion 35 of casting 35 which is a sufficient distance todisengage the roller 35 from the ratchet teeth on the ratchet wheel 33.

As stated above, the ratchet wheel 39 is connected directly to the seedshaft, and a swinging cam member 42 is mounted to swing on shaft 40 andis provided for the purpose of engagingthe pawl 38 and throwing it outof operative connection with the ratchet wheel at varying degrees in itsangular movement. The cam member is rotatably adjustable on shaft 40 sothat the pawl will be disengaged from the ratchet wheel at differentpoints in the varying positions of adjustment of the cam, and thereforethe seed shaft will be rotated a greater or less distance to permit two,three, four or any number of kernels to be dropped by the seed platesduring one complete rotation of the clutch mechanism.

In addition to the knockout arm 41 carried by the usual checkrow shaft,supplemental means has been provided for throwing the clutch mechanismout of operation as the runner frame is raised. This means comprises atrip lever 43 pivoted to the runner frame, with its upper portionadapted to engage when at one limit of its movement the pawl member 34.The trip lever operates in a manner similar to the knockout arm to movethe pawl member 34 inwardly to disengage the roller 35 from the ratchetwheel, and the lower end of the trip lever is connected yieldingly by apressure spring 44 and a slide rod 45 to the pivoted arm 25, and whenmovement is imparted to the arm 25 by the lever 16, this movement willbe communicated tothe lever 43 and will disengage the clutch mechanismas the runner frame is raised and will release the same as the runnerframe is lowered.

In Fig. 4 a slightly modified connecting means is illustrated betweenthe frame adjusting lever and the trip lever, and comprises a link 46slidably connected to the lower end of the lever 43 and connected at itsopposite end to the rearwardly extend ing portion 19 of the bell cranklever 16.

With reference to the swinging cam 42 employed in connection with myclutch mechanism, it is desirable that this cam be so constructed as tonot project upwardly beyond the top of the ratchet wheel 33, for thereason that in crating the mechanism for shipping purposes, when thiscam extends above the ratchet wheel, it becomes liable to breakage onaccount of its exposed position. The handle for shifting the cam aboutits pivot has heretofore been mounted upon the top portion of the camand has projected upward and thereby been subjected to the sameliability of breakage. The operative portion of this cam is disposed ina plane with and surrounds the pawl 38 and ratchet 39, but the portionof the cam which controls the operation of the pawl 38 is disposedsubstantially below the plane of the seed shaft, and the upper portionof the cam member has been used merely for the locking mechanism whichpositions the cam in its various angles of adjustment. In the presentconstruction the upper portion of the cam is offset laterally. as shownat 47, this ofiset portion being slightly curved longitudinally, asclearly shown in 4, the portion 47 passing to one side of the plane ofthe pawl member 38, preferably a short distance below the upper plane ofthe ratchet wheel 33.

The locking mechanism comprises a handle 48 pivoted between upstandingflanges 49 carried by the portion 47 of the cam and springpresseddownwardly by means of the compression spring 50 which acts between thecam portion 47 and the front end of the handle 48, as illustrated inFig. 4. The handle 48 is provided rearward of its pivot with adownwardly extending lug 51 which projects into one of a series ofapertures 52 provided in a stationary plate 53 carried by the runnerframe, the plate 53 being longitudinally curved in a manner similar tothe cam portion 47 Each of the apertures is labeled with a numeralcorresponding to the number of kernels that are planted when the cam isin position with the lug projecting into that opening.

The operation of the clutch mechanism is familiar to those skilled inthe art and will therefore not be described in detail. From the abovedescription it will be seen that I have provided a clutch mechanism andcam controlling means therefor which is simple in construction andefiicient in operation. This cam controlling means has also been soconstructed and designed as to enable the same to be shipped with littleliability of breakage, and the adjusting mechanism for the cam has beenconveniently mounted thereon in such a manner as to be easily operable.

VVhileI have in the above specification described a specific embodimentof my invention, it is to be understood that this construction may bemodified without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressedin the following claims.

What I claim as new is:

1. In a variable clutch mechanism comprising a continuously operatingmember, a ratchet and a rotatable pawl, a frame, a swinging camengageable with said pawl, and means whereby said cam may be ad justedcomprising a lever pivoted on said cam and engageable with said frame ina plurality of positions, the upper portion of said cam and said leverbeing disposed in a plane below the upper surface of said con tinuouslyoperating member.

2. In a variable clutch mechanism comprising a ratchet and a rotatablepawl, a frame, a swinging cam having a lower portion engageable withsaid pawl and an upper portion offset from said lower portion, and meanswhereby said cam may be adjusted comprising a spring-pressed leverpivoted on the offset portion of said cam and engageable with said framein a plurality of positions.

3. In a variable clutch mechanism, a shaft, a continuously operatingclutch member on said shaft, a variable clutch member for connecting thecontinuously operating clutch member with said shaft, said variableclutch member comprising a ratchet and pawl, and a swinging cam hav ingits lower portion surrounding said pawl to engage therewith anddisengage the pawl from the ratchet at different degrees in the angularmovement thereof and having its upper portion outside the path of saidpawl and disposed in a plane below the upper surface of saidcontinuously operating clutch member.

4. In a Variable clutch mechanism, a shaft, a continuously operatingclutch member on said shaft, a variable clutch member for connecting thecontinuously operating clutch member With the shaft, said variableclutch member comprising a ratchet and pawl, and a swinging cam havingits lower portion adapted to engage with said pawl and having theopposite connecting portion at its top disposed in a plane below theupper surface of said continuously operating clutch.

5. In a variable clutch mechanism, a shaft, a continuously operatingratchet member journaled on said shaft, an intermittently operating pawlmember operated by said ratchet member, a second pawl member connectedfor joint rotation with the first mentioned pawl member, a secondratchet member fixed to said shaft and adapted to be driven by saidsecond mentioned pawl member, and a swinging cam to engage with saidsecond mentioned pawl member to disengage it from the second ratchetmember at varying degrees in the angular movement thereof, said camsurrounding the pawl at its lower portion and having its upper portionarranged in a plane below the upper surface of said first mentionedratchet member.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

SAlVIUEL K. DENNIS.

